6-foot-11 Jack Salt stood inside the Covenant School gymnasium Dec. 3, in a city that still feels like home away from home. The former Virginia center returned to Charlottesville not as a player wearing 33 in white, navy blue and orange, or as the defensive anchor of a national championship team. Instead, he returned as a basketball mentor, bringing a group of Australian high schoolers to the United States to learn about the sport.
Salt, an Auckland, New Zealand native, now resides in Queensland, Australia. The 2019 graduate coaches at Brisbane Grammar School, guiding teams that would be the equivalent of junior varsity and varsity teams in the United States. When the opportunity came up to travel across the United States, his first instinct was not to pick a professional arena or a big city — it was to go back to his college roots.
“I said, ‘Well, we're definitely going to Charlottesville,’” Salt said. “And a few guys didn't even know I played college basketball up until this trip.”
Dec. 3, Salt brought his Brisbane Grammar teams to Covenant for two games against the Eagles — a junior varsity tipoff at 4:30 p.m. and the varsity at 6 p.m. The alumnus was not focused on any attention from local media or sparse crowd, but intently on the game — in a gym far smaller than John Paul Jones Arena, now on the other side of the coaches’ board.
Salt’s connection to Virginia basketball stretches far beyond the NCAA title won in his final year with the Cavaliers. He was part of the foundational core that shaped Tony Bennett’s rise from conference contender to national champion. He redshirted in 2014, learning about the game in the United States from future NBA players Anthony Gill and Mike Tobey. Salt then spent four more seasons as part of one of the most detail-oriented programs in college sports, learning how to defend, lead and carry himself.
“For me, [Virginia] was the best basketball environment I've been in in my life,” Salt said. “A lot of lessons I learned [were] at Virginia.”
Salt built his reputation at Virginia not by scoring, but by bruising through screens, absorbing contact, setting edges defensively and doing what was needed rather than what was flashy. His role embodied what Virginia basketball became under Coach Tony Bennett’s 15-year tenure — a program defined by humility, passion, unity, servanthood and thankfulness.
That culture defined the program in its lowest moments. Salt understands that kind of adversity as well as anyone, especially when millions watched Virginia fall to 16-seeded UMBC in 2018. He remembers that night not through humiliation, but through resilience.
“We came back from something really embarrassing for an 18 to 22-year-old,” Salt said. “To be embarrassed in front of millions of people is tough, but to have a leader like Coach Bennett and a program like Virginia to fall back on, it felt like, no matter what happens, we're going to be okay.”
When Salt now looks back on that 2019 championship run, his most vivid memory is not the confetti or the podium ceremony. It is the moment afterward when the players filed into the locker room — not just current teammates, but generations of student-athlete alumni who built the program before him. It is clear that Salt, despite being tagged as an introverted “Gentle Giant,” has a passion for people.
After leaving Charlottesville, Salt tried to continue his playing career professionally, signing opportunities in the United States and abroad. But a series of health setbacks — including glandular fever and a knee injury — kept him largely off the court and ultimately led him to retire in 2022. His career, in that sense, never really ended on his own terms.
Instead of completely moving away from basketball upon his retirement, Salt searched for a way to stay connected to the game that had shaped him the most. And with coaching, he is able to pass on lessons to young, aspiring athletes, lessons largely learnt from the values instilled in him by Bennett.
Coaching has made Salt more attentive to how programs define themselves — now, Salt is watching Virginia try to carry its culture forward in a new era. With Coach Ryan Odom taking over, the program has framed its foundation in a slightly different way — adding accountability as a new pillar in addition to Bennett’s five. Salt appreciates how Odom has embraced the past while trying to further evolve the program.
“I love the accountability pillar,” Salt said. “I love that [Odom] is not ignoring the culture that made Virginia so great, because obviously, Coach Bennett knew what he was doing … You've got to be accountable. You can't be blaming others when you make mistakes. And it's on you to be the best person you can, so the team can be the best possible team.”
Salt’s return to Grounds also comes as Odom begins to build his own culture with a very new roster. Over the summer, Odom’s 2025-26 roster studied the All Blacks — the three-time World Cup-winning rugby team — through James Kerr’s novel “Legacy.” As a New Zealander, Salt was very pleased to share his stance on the subject.
“There's a great quote in there of ‘Let’s all sweep the sheds,’” Salt said. When I was at Virginia, Coach Curtis, who I was really close with, would always say, ‘sweep the sheds.’ He loved the All Blacks. Loved how tough they were, loved what they stood for. So those kind of values coming from New Zealand, it's super cool for me, being a Kiwi.”
Salt has heard and seen that phrase many times before this. Now he’s teaching it to up-and-coming athletes. As of right now, he does not know whether coaching is a long-term career. He loves working with younger people and players and loves shaping environments that feel like his college one in Charlottesville. Brisbane Grammar’s teams are still learning how to compete, hold one another accountable and build something sustainable.
“[I’m] still figuring it out,” Salt said. “But I really enjoyed being with this high school program. Brisbane Grammar School is a great school. I've got a really good group of young men, and I'm just enjoying the journey right now.”
Aimee Crosbie contributed reporting.
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